


Together We Would Burn the World

by fiarra



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-05
Updated: 2012-12-05
Packaged: 2017-11-20 08:44:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiarra/pseuds/fiarra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Zayn often feels haunted by his own darker moods, that urge to take and get his own brand of revenge on a world that turned its back on him, Louis shines bright like the sun; brilliant and enticing, but ready to burn anyone who comes too close.</p>
<p>[au vaguely inspired by The Dark Knight Rises and Zayn saying that Louis is his Bane. Louis/OMC is brief.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together We Would Burn the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blathering_kat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blathering_kat/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Manda! <3
> 
> Thank you to @eloiserummaging for looking this over/holding my hand. All remaining mistakes are my own.

Louis is the most beautiful person Zayn knows. His skin glows under the golden afternoon sunlight that is streaking across him where he lies in the single bed, sheets puddled around his hips and one arm carelessly thrown back over the pillow. As he watches, Louis blinks awake, blue-eyes shining up at him as the fog of sleep clears and he smirks, like he knows exactly what Zayn is thinking. He sits up and stretches, lazy and feline.

“Shall we?” he says.

Louis is the most beautiful person Zayn knows, but that doesn’t mean he’s the most beautiful that he can be. No, he’s sure that moment will only be reached as they destroy the world.

\- - -

It’s a plan that has been years in the making; since Zayn first met Louis. It might as well be his whole life, because as far as Zayn is concerned, there was nothing for him before there was them. 

They first meet in the alleyway behind the pub on a blisteringly cold night. Zayn is huddled behind the bins, shivering and alone, knowing that he can’t go back home. Doesn’t have a home to go back to, really. He’s starting to feel himself drift off when the door to the pub is slammed open and two giggling people stumble out and crash against the wall near him. The smaller of the two is pushed against the wall, head thrown back in abandon as the other man sucks none-to-gentle marks into his neck. The light afforded them by the moon is dim, but Zayn can see his face clear enough, can see the glint in his eyes as they glance around the alley and notice Zayn in his hiding place. As they lock eyes, he smirks and holds the gaze as the other man shoves his hands over his head, holding him firm by wrists that look bird-like and fragile. It pushes his chest out, creating a gentle curve with his torso against the wall and Zayn suddenly wants nothing more than to trace that curve with his fingers. After a few breathless moments, a groan breaks the silence of the alleyway and the taller man drops his wrists and steps away. Money is exchanged and the finally the smaller man is left alone, slumped against the wall and visibly hard in the trousers that hug his hips.

Zayn blinks and looks away, so he misses when the other man pushes off the wall to saunter over. When Zayn looks up again, he is standing in front of him, hand held out.

“Let’s get you inside, shall we?”

The man (“Name’s Louis, don’t forget it. I think we’ll be going far together, you and I”) takes him to his flat. It’s dusty and cold, with a draft whistling around the corners, but somehow it already feels like home. As Zayn pushes deep inside Louis, sheets tangled around their ankles as he holds Louis’s arms down against the mattress, he lets himself feel the anger that has been simmering under his skin for so long now. And he whispers that anger into the delicate skin of Louis’s neck, letting it wash over them, and the increasingly frantic moans echoing back at him promise to help him rule the world.

\- - -

Since that night, they have watched the rise of Liam Payne in the public eye and planned. One wall of their flat is covered in an intricate map of his career; newspaper clippings and pictures taken from afar at public events interspersed with notes. Sometimes, when Zayn is alone in the flat while Louis is off working at the grimy diner down the street, he sits in front of it and lets himself sink into the anger again. An anger tempered by the certainty that this man with the glowing smile in all the pictures will be the way to the end. It only breaks when Louis returns from his shift and swoops down to settle across his lap and poke at his cheeks. Because for all that their alliance started with a simmering anger, they fit together in ways that Zayn never could have anticipated.

Where Zayn often feels haunted by his own darker moods, that urge to take and get his own brand of revenge on a world that turned its back on him, Louis shines bright like the sun; brilliant and enticing, but ready to burn anyone who comes too close. Most days, Zayn is in awe that Louis has let him get this close to his orbit, but he is thankful for it all the same. Louis pulls him up out of his head and back into the real world, and Zayn does his best to keep Louis from burning out entirely, because light like his is too easily used up and then cast away in the world they live in.

On this particular night, Zayn is once again sitting and contemplating their wall, but this time it is with renewed purpose. Louis has finally made a contact at the diner that might give them a way to reach Liam and all he can focus on is how much he wants it to happen. So, when the door slams open, doesn’t wait for Louis to come to him. Instead, he turns in his chair to face the door and watch as Louis rushes in with a grin across his face.

“Well...?”

“Tomorrow. 8 o’clock. That hotel by city hall. Harry says if we’re there around 8:30, once it’s all started, you can probably get in on the charms of your pretty face.” Louis punctuates this by ruffling Zayn’s hair and brushing a kiss across his nose. Zayn presses his fingers into Louis’s sides until he squirms away with a shriek and wanders off to the kitchen to collect their dinner.

They talk about it over dinner. It ends up being a rather complicated story. Harry works at the diner with Louis and he is good friends with one Nick Grimshaw, who knows everybody there is to know in the city, including Niall Horan, Liam’s right-hand. Louis has been working on it for months now, getting into their good graces, trying cautiously to get information. It’s been hard for Zayn, watching him give so much of himself away, but the one time Zayn met Harry, he recognized the same spark in him that lives in Louis. And that made it easier to bear.

It’s there, curled up together on their bed, plate of soggy fries cooling between them, that Zayn starts to think that maybe, just maybe, this is going to work.

\- - -

And so, 7:30 finds Zayn fidgeting in front of their dusty mirror, Louis fussing at the state of his hair and babbling away. Louis, of course, already looks flawless with his hair brushed down into an artfully messy fringe. It makes Zayn want to eat him up, and he has to remind himself that there will be all the time for that later. He lets it go on for a few more breaths before he grabs at Louis’s wrist and hauls him close, other hand brushing down to stroke at the small of his back.

Louis tips his head up to rub his nose against the underside of Zayn’s chin. “Are you ready to seize the world, babe?”

Zayn just kisses Louis, licking into his mouth and pressing them as close as he can. He pulls away with a smile. “For you? Anything.”

And with that, Louis whirls away to drag Zayn out the door to meet their destiny.

\- - -

It starts without a hitch. Zayn charms his way in at the entrance, all smiles and self-assured words. He looks like he belongs there, among the most affluent, all there to fawn over their newest superstar. It makes the anger burn hotter in him and all he wants to do it reach out and prove to them their lack of true worth. Luckily, before he can act on it, he catches sight of Louis slipping in with the rest of the event staff and the grin sent his way from across the room is enough to remind him why they are here. Then Liam arrives, and the game begins.

It feels surprisingly easy in the end. Louis has managed to get himself assigned to the area where Liam is standing to chat with his adoring public and even from across the room, Zayn can tell that he is at his most charming. The few times they talk, Louis is all coy smiles through lowered lashes and gentle brushes of his fingers against Liam’s wrists. With a final glance, he lets himself get drawn into the conversation around him.

It’s not until the party starts to wind down that he feels the press of warm fingers against his back, and Louis is there, smiling up at him. “Your turn, babe,” he whispers.

Zayn excuses himself and approaches Liam, who is sitting alone and looking a little worn around the edges. He is also still looking a little wistfully at Louis across the room. Zayn clears his throat, making Liam jump.

“Er, hello,” Liam says with a weary smile.

“Looking a bit tired there, love. How do you do this all the time? It’s exhausting.” Zayn sprawls languidly in the chair next to him, smirking as Liam’s eyes flicker down the line of his body. It’s almost too easy.

“Oh, you build up a tolerance for it, I suppose. I haven’t seen you around before.”

“And I don’t suppose you will again,” says Zayn. “I’m Zayn and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Liam takes the offered hand cautiously. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Zayn.”

There is a pause and Zayn tightens his grip while Liam looks down with a slight frown. He comes easily when Zayn tugs, bringing his mouth right up to Liam’s ear to whisper. “I saw you, you know. Saw you watching him. He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?”

Liam pulls away, all wide eyes and deep breaths, but even in his alarm, Zayn sees his gaze dart over to where Louis is currently balancing several cups on his head. “I... I don’t.”

“It’s okay,” he says, finally letting Liam’s hand go. “I understand. He’s brilliant. He makes you want to know him, to own him, but no one can do that.... not even me.”

Liam looks at him warily. “What are you doing here?”

Zayn just smiles. “I could show you, but first I need to know one thing. Do you want to know what it’s like to touch the sun?”

Liam just shivers in response, and just like that, Zayn feels like he’s already won.

\- - -

All three of them stumble into the flat later that night, so entwined that Zayn can barely tell who he’s touching anymore. Louis has managed to wrap those long legs of his around Liam’s hips, head thrown back as Liam sucks dark bruises into his collarbones. Behind them, Zayn palms at the angle of Liam’s hips, whispering dark promises into his ears, urging him on. The door shuts and Louis drops to his feet, darting away to sprawl messily across their bed, back in a delicate arch as he palms himself. Liam freezes at the sight, going uncertain in Zayn’s arms.

“Look at him,” Zayn whispers. “Do you know how long we’ve waited for you? But you’re here now, darling, so don’t keep him waiting.”

On the bed, Louis cracks his eyes open and they glint up at them in the moonlight, mischievous and beautiful. “Come on then, Liam. He’s not making me, y’know. We both want this. Want you.”

“Yes,” Liam breathes out. Zayn steers him towards the bed, pushes him down gently and moves to settle behind Louis on the bed. Louis sits up to kiss Zayn deep and sure, just like he has since that first night. Zayn smiles into the kiss and when they break away for air, Liam is still standing at the edge of the bed, watching them hungrily. With a final nip to Louis’s neck, Zayn pushes Louis’s shirt off and guides him to lie with his head in his lap. Then, he raises a single eyebrow at Liam in challenge.

And finally, with a single breath, the final piece falls as Liam swoops down on them, mouth once again working at Louis’s neck. Louis has his arms thrown back, anchoring himself to Zayn, pushing himself up at Liam, who works his way down Louis’s stomach, worshipping him in a way that Zayn recognizes well. Louis is wanton and shameless, his moans and sighs lingering in the air around them, intermingling with the gentle directions Zayn is giving out and it seems like forever (but also like no time at all) before their clothing has been tossed aside. Zayn thinks, as Liam pushes himself deep inside Louis, who is writhing under them both, that he’s never seen anything more precious, more important.

The moment passes, as they do. Spent and exhausted, they curl around each other and Liam fits between them just as neatly as they had always hoped. Zayn leans over to lazily kiss Louis and it feels like the beginning all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a bigger story I don't have the time or talent to write, alas.


End file.
